I never wanted to go in that building again. Never. Even if Hell froze over, I still wouldn’t set foot in that damned place.

Some places become tainted over time. Murders, suicides, deaths. They all take their toll on the world around us. When a person dies, the environment soaks it up, like a Polaroid reaching for the light. It leaves an imprint; one that can never be erased.

I wish I could say that is what happened to this place. It would make this world seem gentler if we could identify why this ground is what it is, but we can’t. Some places, like people, don’t need a reason. They are what they are, and have been since the day they came into being.

This building was one of those. A deviated blight on our reality. Pure evil flowed through every particle of the place. No one can even tell you how old the building is. Some say its been here for hundreds of years. Others say its been here since the beginning of time, in one form or another.

I didn’t know any of this. I just knew it was an old creepy building some kids dared the new kid to spend the night in. That would be me; the new kid. I don’t know if you know what it’s like to be the new kid, but let me tell you, it’s awful. No friends, no place to fit in. Isolated and alone. Everyone judging you on whether or not you might be worth the effort.

That’s why I took this dare. I figured if I could prove myself a badass right away, this new school thing would be a cakewalk. I walked into that building as groups of kids stood around with my head held high. There was no way I would let this place intimidate me.

Boy, was I mistaken. How I honestly survived the night is beyond me. I withdrew in on myself. The whispering walls and the shapes which slithered around my curled up body were too much for me. I left that place in the morning, a mere shade of what I had been.

I had gained the respect of the school, but I couldn’t care less. All I knew was the small sliver of sanity left in me never wanted to set foot near that place again. I wanted to get as far away from it as I could. I begged and pleaded until my family caved. They moved me across the country, but even that wasn’t far enough for me.

Like I said, I changed because of that place. I had never been a goody-two-shoes or anything, but after that, in my more coherent moments, there was a darkness writhing in me. I scared people. They could feel the wrongness pouring off me. My parents tried to explain to people I was different. I was misunderstood.

I realize now that I was misunderstood. I still am to this day. I realized something else, too. The place I had feared so much when I was younger, it was only a misunderstanding that kept me from seeing its true potential.

That’s why I’ve come back. I bought that old building and everything in it. I am now the Keeper, living there with all its many secrets.

There was a time I thought I knew what was right and wrong. There was also a time when I didn’t want to set a foot in this place again. I use to say never. Not anymore.

Fantastic twist of an end Melissa! And great voice in this, I could really feel the change that overcame him.

This reminds me of an old asylum we passed when returning from vacation one year. Even my husband, who doesn’t believe in ghosts/spirits, any of that, said the hair on his neck stood up as we passed that building. Spooky!